New Super Mario Bros Wii
Being a review of (and collection of thoughts about)the videogame New Super Mario Bros Wii. I will put it behind an lj-cut for those that don't want spoilers.
Let's get the spoilers out of the way first: Princess Peach/Toadstool is having a party at the castle with Mario and Luigi. Then she's kidnapped! Mario must fight through eight worlds of 2-D action, eventually fighting Bowser himself, to rescue the Princess.
This is an example of the trope Exactly What It Says On the Tin. This is a 2-D sidescrolling Mario game. There's a few new powerups and blocks, but beyond that nothing will surprise you. Nothing is supposed to. Playing this is like a time capsule to 1992. AND I LOVE IT. Seriously, I had a blast playing it. Yoshi's in there but only for a few select levels, and you can't take him with you when you go, but I didn't mind that too much. At the end of each World you fight one of Bowser's kids, ala Super Mario World. Even though it was almost two decades ago I was still able to name each kid as I fought him (or her, in the case of Wendy O. Koopa). There was no "I'm sorry Mario, but your Princess is in another castle!" speech, because the Princess was in an airship driven by Bowser Jr. At the start of the game it was hovering over the castle at the end of World 1, then you got to the roof, saw the Princess, and Bowser Jr. jumped on board and flew off to World 2. This repeated for Worlds 2, 3, and 4. But at the end of World 4, MARIO REMEMBERED HE COULD JUMP, TOO. And he jumped onto the airship! AND IT WAS JUST LIKE SUPER MARIO BROS 3 AIRSHIP LEVEL. The music, the mole-wrenches, the mecha-koopas, the four-directional-rotating-cannons, the slowly panning camera, it was all a homage to the airship level in Super Mario 3. It made me so happy.
The end of the airship level was even more epic. Bowser Jr. was there, and he hopped in a certain vehicle that was very familiar. It was the flying clown hovercraft that Bowser used at the end of Super Mario World! I quite literally squealed with joy. Later stages had another airship battle, and another instance of this vehicle, but this time THERE WAS ONE FOR MARIO TO RIDE IN TOO! I squealed with joy again.
Kamek, or Magi-Koopa as I call him (her? it?) plays a bigger role in this game. At the final battle of each world, when facing off against one of Bowser's kids, Kamek appears and waves his wand and alters the battlefield in the kid's favor. Example: Ludwig von Koopa can hover in this game, so you have to watch him very closely to see when he'll actually slam down. It was hard enough in the mid-world fortress, but at the end-world castle Kamek made the stage three narrow platforms that moved up and down! I was not amused.
When I got to World 8 I noticed there was no castle, just an airship. A horrible thought occured to me. Bowser had never been seen at all through this entire game. Maybe Kamek was the final boss? Maybe you'd fight your way through an airship to battle him, and he'd have the Princess, and Bowser wouldn't even make an appearance? Maybe the game developers would chicken out at the last minute and go for Kamek to be "new" and "different"?
I needn't have worried. After the airship battle a castle was revealed, just as giant and hardcore as I'd hoped, and more. I fought my way through it, and finally came to the red double doors. I went through them, ran down a narrow hallway, dodged slow-moving horizontal fireballs, and there he was: Bowser. I won't spoil the final battle (unless someone asks me to), but rest assured it was epic.
One thing I can't comment on is the multiplayer. I know the game was designed to be multi-played, but my friends here have been busy. That should change in the next few days. Until then, I'm collecting Star Coins to unlock the courses in World Nine. Which consist of eight courses, two rows of four, in an homage to the ultimate secrets of Super Mario World.
Let's get the spoilers out of the way first: Princess Peach/Toadstool is having a party at the castle with Mario and Luigi. Then she's kidnapped! Mario must fight through eight worlds of 2-D action, eventually fighting Bowser himself, to rescue the Princess.
This is an example of the trope Exactly What It Says On the Tin. This is a 2-D sidescrolling Mario game. There's a few new powerups and blocks, but beyond that nothing will surprise you. Nothing is supposed to. Playing this is like a time capsule to 1992. AND I LOVE IT. Seriously, I had a blast playing it. Yoshi's in there but only for a few select levels, and you can't take him with you when you go, but I didn't mind that too much. At the end of each World you fight one of Bowser's kids, ala Super Mario World. Even though it was almost two decades ago I was still able to name each kid as I fought him (or her, in the case of Wendy O. Koopa). There was no "I'm sorry Mario, but your Princess is in another castle!" speech, because the Princess was in an airship driven by Bowser Jr. At the start of the game it was hovering over the castle at the end of World 1, then you got to the roof, saw the Princess, and Bowser Jr. jumped on board and flew off to World 2. This repeated for Worlds 2, 3, and 4. But at the end of World 4, MARIO REMEMBERED HE COULD JUMP, TOO. And he jumped onto the airship! AND IT WAS JUST LIKE SUPER MARIO BROS 3 AIRSHIP LEVEL. The music, the mole-wrenches, the mecha-koopas, the four-directional-rotating-cannons, the slowly panning camera, it was all a homage to the airship level in Super Mario 3. It made me so happy.
The end of the airship level was even more epic. Bowser Jr. was there, and he hopped in a certain vehicle that was very familiar. It was the flying clown hovercraft that Bowser used at the end of Super Mario World! I quite literally squealed with joy. Later stages had another airship battle, and another instance of this vehicle, but this time THERE WAS ONE FOR MARIO TO RIDE IN TOO! I squealed with joy again.
Kamek, or Magi-Koopa as I call him (her? it?) plays a bigger role in this game. At the final battle of each world, when facing off against one of Bowser's kids, Kamek appears and waves his wand and alters the battlefield in the kid's favor. Example: Ludwig von Koopa can hover in this game, so you have to watch him very closely to see when he'll actually slam down. It was hard enough in the mid-world fortress, but at the end-world castle Kamek made the stage three narrow platforms that moved up and down! I was not amused.
When I got to World 8 I noticed there was no castle, just an airship. A horrible thought occured to me. Bowser had never been seen at all through this entire game. Maybe Kamek was the final boss? Maybe you'd fight your way through an airship to battle him, and he'd have the Princess, and Bowser wouldn't even make an appearance? Maybe the game developers would chicken out at the last minute and go for Kamek to be "new" and "different"?
I needn't have worried. After the airship battle a castle was revealed, just as giant and hardcore as I'd hoped, and more. I fought my way through it, and finally came to the red double doors. I went through them, ran down a narrow hallway, dodged slow-moving horizontal fireballs, and there he was: Bowser. I won't spoil the final battle (unless someone asks me to), but rest assured it was epic.
One thing I can't comment on is the multiplayer. I know the game was designed to be multi-played, but my friends here have been busy. That should change in the next few days. Until then, I'm collecting Star Coins to unlock the courses in World Nine. Which consist of eight courses, two rows of four, in an homage to the ultimate secrets of Super Mario World.